Gov. Jerry Brown tries to stay cool awaiting the arrival of President Obama on the tarmac at the Palm Springs International Airport on Friday. / Jay Calderon, The Desert Sun

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The Desert Sun

Spectators await the arrival of Air Force One on Friday underneath the wing of a plane at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Temperatures reached 114 degrees Friday in Palm Springs and are predicted to remain in the triple-digits through Sunday. / Robert Hopwood/The Desert Sun

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Politicians, spectators and members of the media waited in blistering heat Friday to welcome President Barack Obama to Palm Springs.

By 3:13 p.m., when Air Force One landed at the Palm Springs International Airport the temperature had hit 111 degrees, said Erik Pindrock, an AccuWeather.com meterologist. The average high for the day was 99.

Friday’s sunny desert weather was a drastic change for Obama, who less than an hour earlier had been in Los Angeles where the temperature was 66 and the skies were mostly cloudy.

Obama traveled to the Coachella Valley on Friday to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage.

The hot weather was a definite concern for some spectators, dignitaries and members of the media.

Gov. Jerry Brown was spotted using a magazine to shield himself from the sun, while behind the Palm Springs Air Museum which borders the airport, people who gathered to watch Air Force One land sought shade wherever they could find it — even under the wing of a display plane.

On the tarmac, people also sought refuge from the sun — for their technology, as well as themselves. A number of journalists complained their smart phones were overheating and couldn’t be used to take photos or video.

Palm Springs police Sgt. Harvey Reed said at least one person on the tarmac suffered a heat-related illness. Witnesses saw emergency personnel place that person into an ambulance.

Little relief is expected during Obama and Xi’s meeting, which ends today.

A ridge of high pressure parked across the Southwest is expected to keep temperatures above average in Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, Pindrock said.

Friday’s high in Palm Springs was 114, three degrees below the all time high of 117 set in 1985.

Today is expected to be sunny with a high of 108, he said. It’ll be more seasonable Sunday and Monday, with temperatures reaching 102 degrees.

Next week, highs will reach 108 by midweek.

This weekend’s weather is also a change for Xi. Friday’s high in Beijing was 71, below normal for the Chinese capital.

“They were about 14 degrees cooler than average,” Pindrock said.

Beijing’s all-time record high was 107, according to the website BeijingImpression.com. The hottest recorded temperature in China was 118.